2011 Super Chevy Show - Thunder Valley

The Super Chevy Show rolled into the Volunteer State for some tire-shredding action.

When Larry Carrier, Carl Moore, and Hal Hammrick opened Bristol International Raceway (now known as Bristol Dragway) in 1965, it was one of the first "super dragstrips" in the country. Bristol boasted a four-story tower, seating for 15,000, and a host of other amenities and luxuries rarely seen at the drags in the golden age. In June of '65 Bristol hosted the first NHRA national event east of the Mississippi, the first of many events over the next 45-plus years.

Bristol is also one of the oldest participating tracks in the 30-year history of the Super Chevy Show series. When asked about Bristol, former Super Chevy editor and current contributor Doug Marion had this to say: "To me personally, Bristol is a very historic track and state of the art, with as many Chevys within a 250- to 300-mile radius as anywhere in the country."

Last year the show was cut in half by foul weather, but this year was a full weekend of rain free Bow Tie fun. We had a great variety of machines in the show field, with a packed Gold Class and a swap meet full of vintage Chevy parts. Meanwhile the staging lanes were packed with cars all the way through the night.

Here are the Bristol, Tennessee, winners from the amsoil best of the best competition, presented by danchuk:

The AMSOIL Best of the Best voting begins the Monday after each Super Chevy Show and lasts through the following Sunday at midnight. Keep your browser aimed at bestofthebest.superchevy.com to vote for next batch of classic Bow Ties.

AMSOIL Best of The Best Presented by Danchuk

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2011 Super Chevy Show - Thunder Valley

Duane Landis brought his fresh-from-the-resto-shop, Citrus Green ’70 Z28 to Bristol for its first post-rebuild show.

Duane Landis brought his fresh-from-the-resto-shop, Citrus Green ’70 Z28 to Bristol for its first post-rebuild show.

Duane Landis brought his fresh-from-the-resto-shop, Citrus Green ’70 Z28 to Bristol for its first post-rebuild show.

For the second year in a row, Jon Phillips was the quickest and fastest car in True Street with his Chevy-powered Z-car. It ran as quick as an 8.92 during the heat of the day at Bristol.

There were some good deals to be had in another Harry the Hat–organized swap meet, including this ’55 Bel Air two-door sedan. We also spotted some factory big-block aluminum heads, a screaming deal on a ’79 Z28, and some cool retro parts.

The Bristol event had a whopping seven entries in the Gold Class competition, by far the most out of any show to date. We even had two ’69 Z/28s, one with white interior/stripes/vinyl top, and its evil twin with black interior/stripes/vinyl top.

While this ’66 Nova SS wasn’t an L79 car, it still had a pretty interesting story. An unrestored survivor, Todd Atkins bought this car out of California, still wearing its California emissions kit. It was owned by a quartermaster for a cruise line sailing out of L.A., who kept meticulous records of every tank of gas, from mileage to destination to distance driven, for the entire time he owned the car. We saw some 18-mpg logs in the notebooks—not bad for a ’60s V-8!

Would you believe this is a ’79 Yenko Camaro? Stefan Grenvik bought his Z28 new in 1979 from Don Yenko Chevrolet, birthplace of the most well-known super Camaros ever built.

Doug Lephew (near lane) heats the hides on his Vega Kammback as he prepares to race against Terry James during bracket eliminations on Saturday evening under the stars.

Sam Lankford’s ’70 SS454 Chevelle was a looker with a unique story. It was built in the Doraville (Atlanta), Georgia, plant, for a GM St. Louis factory exec. It has the LS6 with an M22 Rock Crusher four-speed, 8-track player, and power driver’s seat.

Working at a dragstrip can be a dirty job, especially for the track crew when a car grenades its driveshaft and pukes trans fluid all over the track.

One of the over 20 ’69 Camaros at the Bristol event was Tammy Whitmore’s tricked-out restomod coupe. The RS had a tried-and-true big-block Chevy for neck-snapping motivation.

Nick Phillips' '57 150 sedan was a trick retro restomod that couldn't be missed. While on the surface it looked like a dual-quad 283, it's actually a modern Mouse disguised as an Eisenhower-era small-block. The interior is equally retro with factory bench seat and radio/clock deletes.

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